


New Traditions

by ObsidianRomance



Series: First Times [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Mpreg, Schmoop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 13:10:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/992364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsidianRomance/pseuds/ObsidianRomance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Dean get their daughter ready for her first official Halloween.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Traditions

Sam’s taken up a few new tendencies since Nikki’s birth.

His favorite, though, is watching his brother when Dean isn’t aware of it.  He does it often, lingering in a doorway or just to the left of Dean’s line of vision.  Usually, Dean would be able to feel Sam’s eyes on him but lately he’s been…distracted.

Said distraction is making a game out of kicking her legs out of the pair of leggings Dean is trying to shimmy up her legs.  It's apparent that Dean had given up on any real pretense of trying to dress his daughter, favoring making her smile and giggle instead.

They’ve both been _distracted_ but Dean’s relationship with Nikki is something else.  It’s like those two were cut from the same cloth.  He’s more alive than Sam’s ever seen him before when he is making their daughter squeal with delight.  Dean pretends that Nikki doesn’t have such an effect on him but Sam knows the truth.  He knows the difference between Dean’s smile when he’s trying to pretend it’s nothing and when it is actually nothing.

Dean’s talking to Nikki, something sing-songy but whispered soft enough that it doesn’t reach Sam’s ears.  Still, the body language and hand gestures convey enough to give Sam a general idea and his heart swells with adoration.  Sam loves how quickly Nikki can tear down all of Dean’s walls and expose him as who he is at his core.  Dean has never been anything other than fiercely protective of and doting towards Nikki.

Letting out a giggle, Nikki kicks Dean’s hand away for the hundredth time. Dean acts like he’s surprised.  He makes a sound to communicate that point to his daughter and pulls back in mock shock.

“Nik, you must be working out.  That was a strong kick, baby girl.”  Dean laughs to himself and grabs both of her feet, shaking them playfully and causing Nikki’s tiny body roll left and right on the mattress she’s laying on.  “You used to kick my hand when you were inside papa.  You weren’t as strong then.”  He gives her belly a quick tickle.

“Papa!”  Nikki gives a toothy grin and grabs at Dean’s hand, holding it to her chest to cease his tickling.

“That’s right, Nik.  Papa.  You used to kick him a lot.  Do you remember that?”  Dean shakes his head, laughing at the ridiculous nature of asking his one and a half year old such a question.

Nikki smiles again.  “Papa!”

“Yeah, Papa.  Is that all you say?  You love him, huh?”  Dean thumps her nose with his index finger.  “What’s my name?”

“Papa!”  She giggles and claps.

“No, not Papa.”

Scrunching her eyebrows together in thought, she pouts for a moment.  All her giggles and smiles come to a sudden halt as she snorts.

Sam has to cup a hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing and breaking up the moment between his brother and their daughter.  Nikki, even at one and a half, makes miniature versions of all of Dean’s sounds.  Though she says lots of things, “papa” and “daddy” included, Sam thinks maybe the rush of hearing those words on Nikki’s tongue hasn’t worn off for Dean.

“Dah-dee.”  Nikki eyes widen in excitement.

“That’s right, Nik!”  He raises a hand to hover over her chest.  “High-five!”

Nikki smiles and smacks at Dean’s palm.  She hasn’t exactly mastered the art of fluid follow-through on a high-five but she gets the idea.

“You wanna get dressed now?”  Dean grabs the pair of leggings again, this time catching Nikki’s kicking legs and manipulating her into the pants.  When she reaches up her arms in expectation of Dean clothing the rest of her body, Nikki lets out a surprised coo when Dean puts on another pair of pants, followed by another pair of sweat pants.  Dean stands back for a second, looking at a fourth pair of pants he had laid out on the bed beside Nikki as if contemplating a need for them but seems satisfied with his work.  “Your papa never liked Halloween.  Me either, but I kind of figure it’s a normal tradition for kids and you know…you’re a normal kid…so…”  His sentence trails off as he starts piling three shirts on his daughter.

Sam’s still a little nervous about the idea of taking Nikki out for her first Halloween.  Well, technically it isn’t her first but she was such a teeny tiny baby at the time of her first Halloween that they hadn’t even bothered to have an argument over dressing her up for the day.  Now, however, Dean seems set on dressing Nikki up.  Sam’s not keen on it but the look on Dean’s face sealed the deal for him.  He had no idea how he could say no to Dean or Dean’s reasoning.  His brother wants nothing more than for their little girl to have everything they never did.  Sam can’t remember a time he got to go trick-or-treating or wear a ridiculous costume.  How could Sam refuse giving Nikki the chance to participate in a normal tradition?

Ripping open a package, Dean has to fight with the clothing to get it over Nikki’s head and fastened in the right places.  Nikki takes the opportunity to kiss her father’s hand, which is endearing, but quickly ruins the moment when she bites him and covers him in drool. 

“Eww, Nik!  Gross.  We don’t bite.”  Dean turns a serious face on his daughter.

“Sowwy.”  Pulling puppy eyes, Nikki sucks her lip before letting out a whine of discomfort when Dean gets her hair stuck in the “hood.”

“Sorry, baby.  I guess we’re even, huh?”  Dean fiddles with the costume once more before standing back and laughing.  “Aww, Nik.  You look…”

“She looks like she’s straight out of _A Christmas Story_ ,” Sam chimes in.  He can’t bear to watch the interactions between his family anymore without being a part of it.

Nikki is pouting in the middle of the bed.  She has so many sweatshirts and layers of pants on that her limbs look round and stick out awkwardly.  Her eyes are rolling up in an attempt to figure out what her father did to her head and why her hair is all tucked into the article of clothing she’s been costumed in.  Shaking her head doesn’t dislodge the hood but it does make the antennas on top bounce and bobble.  She tries to get up from the bed but the round overstuffed middle of the bee costume makes her fall over onto all fours, sticking her butt up in the air and revealing a plush stinger.  Fumbling again, she looks up and sees Sam.  “Papa!”  It’s a clear whine for help as she falls on her black and yellow striped belly.

“Aww, Nikki.”  Sam grabs his daughter and puts her on his knee.  He wants to laugh at her so badly because she looks like the cutest thing on earth.  The bee costume is adorable but her frustration in not understanding what is going on is even cuter.  At first he had no idea why Dean was so dead set on dressing her like a bee; there were hundreds of other costumes he thoughts were cuter.  The bee thing was kind of giving him flashbacks of being stuck in an attic with hundreds of them.  Now, however, he gets it.  She’s so cute and _round_ and it makes the whole bee memory less scary and more syrupy sweet.

She’s also in yellow.  For some reason, they’ve both decked Nikki out in yellow throughout her lifetime.  Sam thinks it started because they didn’t know her gender before she was born but then Dean kept going with it in some attempt to avoid pink.  They’re winning so far but they only have so much longer they can hold out before they’ll both give into Nikki’s desires should she want anything and everything pink.

Dean crosses his arms over his chest.  “She does _not_ look like she is from _A Christmas Story_.”

“She does too.”  Sam demonstrates the fact by trying to move Nikki’s arms.  “How many shirts did you put on her?”

“Three…well…four if you count the undershirt.  And I have a jacket too…”

Dean keeps talking but Sam flips Nikki so he can manipulate the costume to double check what he already knew about how many pants she is wearing.  “Dean, why on earth do you want our child to look like a Halloween version of Ralphie?”

“I…well…It’s October.  I don’t want her to get cold.”

Laughing, Sam shakes his head.  He wants to kiss Dean for all the concern in his voice and actions.  “Are _you_ cold?” His question is warm despite its teasing tone.

“Well…no.  I…she…”

“Then she’s not cold either.”  Sam kisses Nikki’s forehead and smiles at his daughters attempt to figure out her new antenna situation.  “Let’s help you get more comfortable, huh Nikki?”

Nikki looks frustrated when she is suddenly thrown back into the disrobing and clothing process.  When Sam is done with her, he smiles and sets her down on the floor.  She’s still having some trouble figuring out how to manipulate her legs through the holes in the bottom of the costume, but she makes quick work of toddling over to Dean and resuming her usual happy nature.

“She won’t be cold like that?”  Dean regards his daughter and her one layer of clothing.

“Dean…”  Rolling his eyes playfully, Sam gets up and grabs his brother’s face with both hands, pulling him in for a drawn out kiss.  “She’s lucky to have someone who cares about her as much as you.”

Dean snorts out a laugh and knocks his forehead against Sam’s.  “Yeah, well, she’s lucky to have someone who knows enough not to let her die of heat exhaustion.”

“Is that me?” Sam asks.

“Yeah.  Tha’s you.”  Dean kisses Sam again.  “You sure you’re okay with taking her out?”

“Mmm hmm.”  Nodding, Sam pulls away and smiles.  “It’s the middle of the day and it’s just for a few hours.”

“Good, ‘cause I got us costumes.”  Dean gives a mischievous smile and ducks away before Sam can protests.   He’s back in seconds flat, holding a plastic bag.  Turning his back on Sam for a moment, he pulls something out of the bag, tugs it on his head and spins around dramatically, clearly proud of himself.

“Oh my god…you’re ridiculous.”  Sam let out a sudden abrupt laugh as he tries to figure out what Dean is.  He’s got a silly looking at on with a weird mesh over his face.   “What are you?”

“I’m a bee keeper, genius.”

“That’s one sad excuse for a bee keeper.”

“Shut up.  Do you know how hard it was to find anything remotely close to a bee keeper costume without actually buying a bee keeper uniform?”

“Well, am I a poor man’s bee keeper as well?”  Sam’s still laughing at Dean but he has to admit to himself that his brother looks kinds of cute in the hat.  It’s stupid looking but the sentiment involved in the gesture overrides everything else.

“Nope.  Here.”  Shoving a package at Sam, Dean goes back to looking smug.

Eyes wide when Sam takes in the contents of the package, he shakes his head.  “Oh, hell no!”  He turns the image depicting the package’s contents towards Dean.  Calling it a costume is being generous.  It includes nothing but a leopard printed loin cloth. That’s it.  End of list.

“Why not?”  Dean is laughing loud enough to let on that he knows exactly why not.  “Come on, Sammy.  It’s a caveman costume.”

“It’s prehistoric underwear.  That’s what it is.”  Shaking his head, Sam snorts.  There is no way he would ever wear that stupid loin cloth alone in this room.  Wearing it in public is something no one should ever do.  “We couldn’t both be bee keepers?”

“Nope.  Only one bee keeper hat.”  There is more laugher and Nikki looks confused for a moment but she giggles along with Dean.  “See, Sammy.  Nikki likes the costume.  You wanna let her down?”

“ _Besides_ the fact that I don’t think it would be legal to wear this thing in public…there is no way I would go around shirtless after…well…after….stretchmarks” He lets his words trail off.  Dean knows exactly why Sam doesn’t like showing off his upper torso after giving birth to Nikki.  Normally, Sam isn’t vain like that.  Having Nikki, however, made him more self-conscious.  He knew he was back to his pre-Nikki fit and form…but still…  “How about you be the caveman and I’ll be the bee keeper?”

“Can’t.  I already promised Nikki.  Sorry, Sam.  I’m the bee keeper and you and your stretch **mark** are stuck being the caveman.”  Laughing, he gave Sam’s pout a kiss.  “Relax.  You don’t have to worry about wearing that,” Dean tapped the costume, “until after our little bee goes back to the hive for the night.”   He wiggles his brow suggestively.

Something about the gesture has Sam eating his words in refusing to wear the costume.  He thinks that maybe if it is dark enough, if Nikki is asleep enough, then maybe he’ll brave it.  Dean’s near his ear, pressed so close that Sam can feel his brother’s breath coasting over the shell of it.

“Candy wasn’t exactly the treat I had in mind when I bought that for you.”  Dean kisses Sam’s pulse point, lingering only a moment, just long enough to rile Sam up, before pulling away to turn enthusiastically towards Nikki.  “You ready, Nik?  Wanna go show off your costume?”

Nikki nods even though she has no idea what she is agreeing to but her father sounds happy about it so she is too.  She waddles to him, the costume’s stinger swaying left to right in time with her butt wiggle.  She latches onto his leg to steady herself before reaching both hands up in wait of being picked up.

“Come here little bee.  Can you say bee?”  Dean touches his nose to Nikki’s.

“Bee!”

“Now, can you buzz?  Go _buzzzzz_.”  Drawing out the sound, Dean zips around the room with his daughter.

“Buzz buzz.”  Nikki sees both of her parents’ positive reactions to her new word so she gets stuck on loop, buzzing as Sam and Dean truck her out if the room and into the bright afternoon sun.

It takes Sam five minutes to realize dressing Nikki up was a good idea.  She’s happy.  She keeps pointing out the other costumes she sees and likes all the attention her bee costume is earning her.

He takes a minute, when Nikki is sitting on his lap and busy chowing down on some lunch, to lean over and whisper in Dean’s ear.  “This was a good idea.”  Smiling and brushing his lips close enough so the gesture could be conceived as completely innocent, his voice dips down an octave.  “What you have planned for tonight?  Also a good idea.”

Dean shivers in response.  He twitches his fingers on Sam’s thigh in anticipation but can do little more before Sam whisks Nikki into his arms and gets to his feet.

“Come on bumble bee.  Let’s get you a pumpkin.”  Propping Nikki on his hip, Sam looks over his shoulder at Dean, smirking before he walks away. 

All Dean can do is smirk back and remember every single reason why he loves his brother.


End file.
